Nick Diaz's next fight won't be against Jason "Mayhem" Miller after all.

Instead, the Strikeforce welterweight champion has agreed to defend his title against Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos on Jan. 29 in San Jose, Calif. Sources close to Strikeforce confirmed the booking with MMA Fighting early Wednesday morning.

The proposed Diaz vs. Miller fight couldn't be agreed upon by both parties due to Diaz not willing to fight at 185 and Miller not willing to drop down to 170. Neither camp was able to agree on a suitable catchweight.

So, in comes the 33-year-old Santos, the husband of Strikeforce 145-pound women's champion Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, who is 1-1 in Strikeforce and 18-13 overall. His lone win came against Marius Zaromskis at Strikeforce: Los Angeles in what also was his 170-pound debut.

Diaz, 23-7 (1 NC), successfully defended his title against KJ Noons in October. He became the first-ever Strikeforce welterweight champion last January when he defeated Marius Zaromskis via first-round TKO.

The title fight is expected to serve as the main event on the Showtime televised card. Also signed for the event is a middleweight title fight between champion Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza and Robbie Lawler, Herschel Walker vs. Scott Carson and Roger Gracie vs. Trevor Prangley.

According to sources, only four bouts are going to be televised on Showtime due to the two title fights scheduled.

my problem is that Mayhem, at least to my recollection of things, was the one who picked the fight, he was the one who started taking shots at Diaz and talking about a fight saying things like "I was jumped by 2 goons" and sh*t like that. Diaz being the balls to the wall guy he is said "I'll fight you in any weight" but after evaluating bit more they see that's too much of a rise for Nick who has business of his own at Welterweight, a move up in weight can dramatically affect his future fights at Welterweight because it may not be so easy to put off the weight as it was to put on, Diaz is a champion at Welterweight and he would be risking more than Mayhem who is not a champion

Nick is even willing to meet him half way and do it like that but Mayhem doesn't even want to do that. all I ever hear from Mayhem supporters is that "Mayhem walks around at 205lb's and that it's hard enough to cut down to 185", well if that's the case stop calling out a Welterweight.

all I ever see Mayhem do is say "Nick said he would do it and now he wont, he said he would do it for the title but not for me" but has Nick tried to fight as a Middleweight or did he jusy say he WOULD? big difference between saying and then actually doing. Nick might act like a "F*ck it all" kind of dude but even he knows his limitations, he could have been had a Middleweight fight against ANYONE if he really wanted to but that isn't on his radar

Mayhem needs to fight for that title and then maybe Nick would have a real reason to go all the way up the way Mayhem is asking because at least if he can't go back down to WW and beats Miller he can still be a champion at MW. it drains fighters to have to go up and then go back down in weight, it takes a whole lot out of you and Mayhem isn't seeing that

Pathetic. Another C level fighter for Nick to beat up and keep his dumb fanboys maintaining he's actually a legit threat to any top fighter.

Diaz needs to stop ducking Mayhem....and top fighters.

I agree with that part. Another guy who isnt top 10 for Nick to look good against. He needs to ditch Strikeforce & DREAM, go to the UFC and actually start to fight and beat the top fighters in order to justify his ranking as a top 170lb'er.